A weak argument When a letter to the editor has derogatory remarks, it indicates a weak argument. The writer of "Supporting a cause" (Aug. 9) said that No Fracking in Stokes is a group of " 'NIMBY' (not in my back yard) who are ignorant of facts and hypocrites." He has had no interaction with our group, thus he cannot know the amount of research and documentation compiled. An example: The New York Bar Association Journal article (November-December 2011 issue) "Homeowners and Gas Drilling Leases: Boon or Bust" reported: "According to the 2010 Form 10-Ks of Chesapeake Energy and Range Resources (both doing business in the Marcellus Shale region), natural gas operations are subject to many risks, including well blow-outs, craterings, explosions, pipe failures, fires, uncontrollable flows of natural gas or well fluids, formations with abnormal pressures and other environmental hazards and risks." It is worth noting that Wells Fargo, one of Chesapeake's lenders, stands among national lenders that do not grant mortgage loans to homeowners with gas leases. If fracking is safe, why does Wells Fargo refuse home loans for property with natural-gas drilling leases? The writer worked in the development of systems, equipment and technology for energy development; his most recent employer was the Halliburton Co. His work history indicates that he is not unbiased about fracking. Members of No Fracking in Stokes are unpaid volunteers working to protect our drinking and surface waters from contamination from fracking, which, incidentally, might be some of the water the writer enjoys in Kernersville.
"Recent incident" I wish that the recent incident involving Winston-Salem City Council member James Taylor Jr. had not happened. Taylor claims that it should not have happened and would not have happened had his rights as a citizen been properly respected. I don't know whether Taylor was pulled over because he was a black man driving at 3 a.m. in Walnut Cove. I don't know if he was driving in excess of 25 mph. I don't know if the fact that he was driving a Lexus played a role. But I do know that racial profiling occurs, subjecting citizens of minority skin color to unwarranted police scrutiny. And I think the Journal has harmed its reputation in publishing Scott Sexton's column titled, "Profiling or not? You decide" (Aug. 16).
DAVE KING Kernersville
"Helen Gurley Brown" After all the media gushing about the life of Helen Gurley Brown, one of the apostles of the 1960s sexual revolution, it was refreshing to see Kathleen Parker's reality check ("Death of a salesgirl," Aug. 17) on the pitfalls of the life that Brown recommended for women in "Sex and the Single Girl" and in the well-known magazine she edited. With hope, the Cosmopolitan editor has discovered after death that she is so much more than the sex object she aspired to be.
ROSE M. WALSH Lewisville
"Authentic patriotism" Our country's Founding Fathers did not agree with Chunny Lambeth and his widow, Emily, that our nation was founded on separation of church and state ("Chunny Lambeth fought to keep church and state separate," Aug. 12). Neither do many of us Americans. On July 4, 1837, President John Quincy Adams said that the Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity. Our Constitution's First Amendment's Establishment Clause simply means America will never recognize a national denominational church, such as the Church of England. The Free-Exercise Clause means that religious organizations and their membership have the right to exercise their faith — not just worship, but to live out their religious convictions and values in every area of their lives without government intrusion. George Washington best explained the necessity of authentic patriotism, a Christian virtue, when he said in his farewell address, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. ... Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice?" Reflect on that statement in light of our current political, economic and moral downturn. America should honor God.
TONI BUCKLER Clemmons
"A suggestion" I have a suggestion for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and presidential candidate Mitt Romney ("Analysts aghast at Reid's claims," Aug. 3). Reid should produce his "source" of information about Romney's taxes and have that source publicly testify about what he knows and how he knows it. Then, and only then, if there is any legitimacy to the source's story, Romney should produce his tax returns to refute the source. If he can refute it.
"Score one" According to "CO{-2} emissions in U.S. reach low" (Aug. 17), U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions are not just falling; they are falling faster here than anywhere. A few years ago, the cost of cutting emissions was estimated in the trillions over decades. And that was from the optimists! Who did we tax, regulate or bludgeon into bankruptcy to get this gigantic change in the U.S. economy? Which party, policy wonk or politician claims the prize for this revolution? Whose sleazy campaign contributions did the trick? No one. No one can claim it because it wasn't planned. Score one for the free market. Relatively clean natural gas became cheap compared to dirty coal and partially displaced coal in the generation of electricity. Natural gas became cheap because of new technologies like directional drilling and fracking. So we've traded away some mountain-top removal, coal ash, mercury, heavy metals, carbon dioxide, rising sea levels and (let's hope) brutal summers for fracking. Many wells have been drilled, and things that happen one time in a million may have happened with fracking. These include local groundwater contamination, noise and even small earthquakes. There is no such thing as a free lunch, but the shift toward natural gas is a shift toward a cleaner world and keeping the Outer Banks above sea level. I like the beach!
A weak argument. Fracking is not going away no matter what the anti any kind of energy crowd wants. Some places will be friendly to favorable fracking, other places might be frackable and still other places will be foul finds for favorable fracking and should be forgotten about.
Helen Gurley Brown. Her time was a time of change. Her efforts proved most helpful to many young women of that time period...one of them being Mrs WW. Fresh out of UNCG in 1968 with a business and economics degree, she entered the business world at Burlington Industries Corporate HQ. She was a token hire to satisfy new personnel quotas appearing in those days. She new it and set out to prove her merit and succeeded- wildly. She still speaks highly of HGB and all that was in that media empire. The times she has watched that cable show "Mad Men", sometimes she laughs and nods her head...other times she gets quiet and mutters to herself. Young girls since then have no idea what the life of a female was like in the business world. No idea at all.
Authentic patriotism. We as a people are wandering a bit and will wander some more. Right now in our current humanistic decline, we are content to honor the State. That will change as we as a country find the bottom. A bottom has to be put in before rebuilding- whether it be in housing, stocks, bonds, commodities or values. Time will come.
A suggestion. Harry Reid does have a source for his info. Many lying cowards like him have had the same source for years: it's called "over the transom". The names and dates are on a piece of paper always kept in his coat pocket.
Score one. Maybe it is as you say. And maybe it is also because our economy is so nearly dead that the pollution from any manufacturing is very low. I too like the Outer Banks and lower coastline...especially at fall trout season coming up. However I would love to find the ocean a bit closer to me----say around Kinston.
Good afternoon folks! LTE 1, 6: More of the fracking wars. No energy extraction system is 100% safe or fail-proof. Every potential site has to be examined for its suitability. Natural gas is a much cleaner and cheaper energy source than coal, so fracking isn't something that can be entirely dismissed. As Mr. Scroggin points out, isn't fracking better than mountain top removal?
LTE 2: The whole incident is rather bizarre. Driving around in the middle of the night; determining a driver was speeding by visual contact only as opposed to radar or even following in a car; the he said, she said nature of the conversation between the cop and Mr. Taylor. It's a shame race has to be brought into it, but given the history of the South, it's inevitable.
LTE 3: HGB was well aware that she was far more than the "sex object she aspired to be". In fact, she was letting women know that they were in charge of their sex lives rather than men. She also let women know that you didn't need to lose your femininity in order to succeed outside the bedroom. It's rather interesting that HGB made bedfellows of feminists and the religious fundamemntalists who both opposed any display or mention of the sex appeal of women for different reasons.
LTE 4: The founders never had the opportunity to meet Mr. Lambeth or his wife, so how can Ms. Buckler say with certainity that the founders would have disagreed with the Lambeths? Also, since when was J Q Adams, a Unitarian btw, considered a founder? His father certainly was, but J Q was not only still in the process of learning the 3 R's when the Declaration of Independence was being written, much of that time was spent in Europe. As for the 1st Amendment's clauses regarding religion, they, like all other constitutional matters can only be understood under the context of SCOTUS rulings. SCOTUS rulings have clearly indicated the Establishment Clause strictly limits govt involvement in religious affairs. Washington's words: "In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert..." is actually a warning against having govt interfere in the religious lives of its citizens for fear of subverting faith; not a call for govt to become intimately involved in religion. This is made clear by the following sentence that was left out: "The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them.": in other words, stay out of it and let the people worship as they please.
LTE 5: Like all very wealthy people whose income is derived mainly from LT capital gains, I suspect Romney's tax returns will show lots of tax sheltered donations as well as a tax rate in the low teens. The whole Reid/Romney affair is just part of the political silly season.
The whole City Council member James Taylor incident was a bunch of small town (Walnut Cove AND WS) political HS. The fact that Mr. Taylor went whining to the WS Journal just shows me that he was probably trying to cover his political butt.
You're out driving around, in Walnut Cover no less, at 3am in the morning, and you get stopped by the police. You don't generally get a ticket unless you have an attitude, and apparently Mr. Taylor had one by trying to intimidate a young female officer. And guess what? She let him hold one.
What is also pathetic is that Annette Fuller, the big time metro editor for the WS Journal even put fingers to keyboard over the stupid story.
This is the kind of HS that a lot of people that read about it and think something really bad was done wrong, like our own uninformed, dotnet.
Do your own test. Let 10 cars drive by at night and see if you can discern the race of the drivers. I bet you won't be 'sure', on any of them.
In N.C., it's an officer's opinion as to the speed of a vehicle that matters, not the radar or other speed detection device. And almost anybody can tell the difference between a vehicle traveling 45mph vs. 25mph.
Next time, I would advise Mr. Taylor, don't carry a gun without your permit, and slow down going through Walnut Cover at 3am. And I'll bet you don't get stopped, even if you're wearing a white hood.
Geez! Liberal Democrats, they're always up to something. They need to put me on a 24 hr advisory retainer to keep them out of trouble.
Small minded people miss out on so much. While they are busy gorging on chemically created chicken sandwiches, the rest of us are enjoying the diverse pleasures of our region.
Around 1830, while you-know-who's ancestors were still swinging from tree to tree in the forest primeval, the Lash family of Bethania, the largest slaveholders in the area, established a plantation along Town Fork Creek. It was named for the coves along the creek and the plentiful walnut trees as Walnut Cove.
With the railroad boom of the 1880s and 1890s, it became a bustling railroad town as trains from points east passed through on their way to Winston, Wilkesboro, Mocksville, Mt. Airy and Roanoke and points west and north. Its Brook Cove suburb once contained the largest tobacco storage facility in the world.
Today Walnut Cove is a pleasant village where some of the best chardonnay grapes in NC are grown. It has an innovative natural sewage system that functions without the use of chemicals and its water supply comes from wells, which makes it a future disaster area for the ignorant Republican frackers down in Raleigh.
Rarely do I agree with our forum NW. However, if you've ever had a chicken that was grown with natural ingredients, it tastes much better than one grown utilizing antibiotics and other chemicals.
With that said, chicken, of any variety, is an excellent source of protein, and I need that biochemical compound for my streamline and fit body to function properly.
Chardonnay is an excellent wine, and I highly recommend it with seafood, perferably while dining in a street side cafe in Marbella, Sp.
A weak argument
ReplyDeleteWhen a letter to the editor has derogatory remarks, it indicates a weak argument. The writer of "Supporting a cause" (Aug. 9) said that No Fracking in Stokes is a group of " 'NIMBY' (not in my back yard) who are ignorant of facts and hypocrites." He has had no interaction with our group, thus he cannot know the amount of research and documentation compiled.
An example: The New York Bar Association Journal article (November-December 2011 issue) "Homeowners and Gas Drilling Leases: Boon or Bust" reported: "According to the 2010 Form 10-Ks of Chesapeake Energy and Range Resources (both doing business in the Marcellus Shale region), natural gas operations are subject to many risks, including well blow-outs, craterings, explosions, pipe failures, fires, uncontrollable flows of natural gas or well fluids, formations with abnormal pressures and other environmental hazards and risks."
It is worth noting that Wells Fargo, one of Chesapeake's lenders, stands among national lenders that do not grant mortgage loans to homeowners with gas leases. If fracking is safe, why does Wells Fargo refuse home loans for property with natural-gas drilling leases?
The writer worked in the development of systems, equipment and technology for energy development; his most recent employer was the Halliburton Co. His work history indicates that he is not unbiased about fracking.
Members of No Fracking in Stokes are unpaid volunteers working to protect our drinking and surface waters from contamination from fracking, which, incidentally, might be some of the water the writer enjoys in Kernersville.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MARY KERLEY
MEMBER, NO FRACKING IN STOKES
Pine Hall
"Recent incident"
DeleteI wish that the recent incident involving Winston-Salem City Council member James Taylor Jr. had not happened.
Taylor claims that it should not have happened and would not have happened had his rights as a citizen been properly respected.
I don't know whether Taylor was pulled over because he was a black man driving at 3 a.m. in Walnut Cove. I don't know if he was driving in excess of 25 mph. I don't know if the fact that he was driving a Lexus played a role.
But I do know that racial profiling occurs, subjecting citizens of minority skin color to unwarranted police scrutiny.
And I think the Journal has harmed its reputation in publishing Scott Sexton's column titled, "Profiling or not? You decide" (Aug. 16).
DAVE KING
Kernersville
"Helen Gurley Brown"
After all the media gushing about the life of Helen Gurley Brown, one of the apostles of the 1960s sexual revolution, it was refreshing to see Kathleen Parker's reality check ("Death of a salesgirl," Aug. 17) on the pitfalls of the life that Brown recommended for women in "Sex and the Single Girl" and in the well-known magazine she edited.
With hope, the Cosmopolitan editor has discovered after death that she is so much more than the sex object she aspired to be.
ROSE M. WALSH
Lewisville
"Authentic patriotism"
Our country's Founding Fathers did not agree with Chunny Lambeth and his widow, Emily, that our nation was founded on separation of church and state ("Chunny Lambeth fought to keep church and state separate," Aug. 12). Neither do many of us Americans.
On July 4, 1837, President John Quincy Adams said that the Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.
Our Constitution's First Amendment's Establishment Clause simply means America will never recognize a national denominational church, such as the Church of England. The Free-Exercise Clause means that religious organizations and their membership have the right to exercise their faith — not just worship, but to live out their religious convictions and values in every area of their lives without government intrusion.
George Washington best explained the necessity of authentic patriotism, a Christian virtue, when he said in his farewell address, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. ... Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice?"
Reflect on that statement in light of our current political, economic and moral downturn. America should honor God.
TONI BUCKLER
Clemmons
"A suggestion"
I have a suggestion for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and presidential candidate Mitt Romney ("Analysts aghast at Reid's claims," Aug. 3).
Reid should produce his "source" of information about Romney's taxes and have that source publicly testify about what he knows and how he knows it.
Then, and only then, if there is any legitimacy to the source's story, Romney should produce his tax returns to refute the source. If he can refute it.
W.P.EVANS
Lewisville
"Score one"
DeleteAccording to "CO{-2} emissions in U.S. reach low" (Aug. 17), U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions are not just falling; they are falling faster here than anywhere.
A few years ago, the cost of cutting emissions was estimated in the trillions over decades. And that was from the optimists!
Who did we tax, regulate or bludgeon into bankruptcy to get this gigantic change in the U.S. economy? Which party, policy wonk or politician claims the prize for this revolution? Whose sleazy campaign contributions did the trick? No one. No one can claim it because it wasn't planned. Score one for the free market.
Relatively clean natural gas became cheap compared to dirty coal and partially displaced coal in the generation of electricity. Natural gas became cheap because of new technologies like directional drilling and fracking.
So we've traded away some mountain-top removal, coal ash, mercury, heavy metals, carbon dioxide, rising sea levels and (let's hope) brutal summers for fracking. Many wells have been drilled, and things that happen one time in a million may have happened with fracking. These include local groundwater contamination, noise and even small earthquakes.
There is no such thing as a free lunch, but the shift toward natural gas is a shift toward a cleaner world and keeping the Outer Banks above sea level. I like the beach!
STEVE SCROGGIN
Winston-Salem
A weak argument. Fracking is not going away no matter what the anti any kind of energy crowd wants. Some places will be friendly to favorable fracking, other places might be frackable and still other places will be foul finds for favorable fracking and should be forgotten about.
ReplyDeleteHelen Gurley Brown. Her time was a time of change. Her efforts proved most helpful to many young women of that time period...one of them being Mrs WW. Fresh out of UNCG in 1968 with a business and economics degree, she entered the business world at Burlington Industries Corporate HQ. She was a token hire to satisfy new personnel quotas appearing in those days. She new it and set out to prove her merit and succeeded- wildly. She still speaks highly of HGB and all that was in that media empire. The times she has watched that cable show "Mad Men", sometimes she laughs and nods her head...other times she gets quiet and mutters to herself. Young girls since then have no idea what the life of a female was like in the business world. No idea at all.
ReplyDeleteAuthentic patriotism. We as a people are wandering a bit and will wander some more. Right now in our current humanistic decline, we are content to honor the State. That will change as we as a country find the bottom. A bottom has to be put in before rebuilding- whether it be in housing, stocks, bonds, commodities or values. Time will come.
ReplyDeleteA suggestion. Harry Reid does have a source for his info. Many lying cowards like him have had the same source for years: it's called "over the transom". The names and dates are on a piece of paper always kept in his coat pocket.
ReplyDeleteScore one. Maybe it is as you say. And maybe it is also because our economy is so nearly dead that the pollution from any manufacturing is very low. I too like the Outer Banks and lower coastline...especially at fall trout season coming up. However I would love to find the ocean a bit closer to me----say around Kinston.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE 1, 6: More of the fracking wars. No energy extraction system is 100% safe or fail-proof. Every potential site has to be examined for its suitability. Natural gas is a much cleaner and cheaper energy source than coal, so fracking isn't something that can be entirely dismissed. As Mr. Scroggin points out, isn't fracking better than mountain top removal?
LTE 2: The whole incident is rather bizarre. Driving around in the middle of the night; determining a driver was speeding by visual contact only as opposed to radar or even following in a car; the he said, she said nature of the conversation between the cop and Mr. Taylor. It's a shame race has to be brought into it, but given the history of the South, it's inevitable.
LTE 3: HGB was well aware that she was far more than the "sex object she aspired to be". In fact, she was letting women know that they were in charge of their sex lives rather than men. She also let women know that you didn't need to lose your femininity in order to succeed outside the bedroom. It's rather interesting that HGB made bedfellows of feminists and the religious fundamemntalists who both opposed any display or mention of the sex appeal of women for different reasons.
LTE 4: The founders never had the opportunity to meet Mr. Lambeth or his wife, so how can Ms. Buckler say with certainity that the founders would have disagreed with the Lambeths? Also, since when was J Q Adams, a Unitarian btw, considered a founder? His father certainly was, but J Q was not only still in the process of learning the 3 R's when the Declaration of Independence was being written, much of that time was spent in Europe. As for the 1st Amendment's clauses regarding religion, they, like all other constitutional matters can only be understood under the context of SCOTUS rulings. SCOTUS rulings have clearly indicated the Establishment Clause strictly limits govt involvement in religious affairs. Washington's words: "In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert..." is actually a warning against having govt interfere in the religious lives of its citizens for fear of subverting faith; not a call for govt to become intimately involved in religion. This is made clear by the following sentence that was left out: "The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them.": in other words, stay out of it and let the people worship as they please.
LTE 5: Like all very wealthy people whose income is derived mainly from LT capital gains, I suspect Romney's tax returns will show lots of tax sheltered donations as well as a tax rate in the low teens. The whole Reid/Romney affair is just part of the political silly season.
Mr. King:
ReplyDeleteThe whole City Council member James Taylor incident was a bunch of small town (Walnut Cove AND WS) political HS. The fact that Mr. Taylor went whining to the WS Journal just shows me that he was probably trying to cover his political butt.
You're out driving around, in Walnut Cover no less, at 3am in the morning, and you get stopped by the police. You don't generally get a ticket unless you have an attitude, and apparently Mr. Taylor had one by trying to intimidate a young female officer. And guess what? She let him hold one.
What is also pathetic is that Annette Fuller, the big time metro editor for the WS Journal even put fingers to keyboard over the stupid story.
This is the kind of HS that a lot of people that read about it and think something really bad was done wrong, like our own uninformed, dotnet.
Do your own test. Let 10 cars drive by at night and see if you can discern the race of the drivers. I bet you won't be 'sure', on any of them.
In N.C., it's an officer's opinion as to the speed of a vehicle that matters, not the radar or other speed detection device. And almost anybody can tell the difference between a vehicle traveling 45mph vs. 25mph.
Next time, I would advise Mr. Taylor, don't carry a gun without your permit, and slow down going through Walnut Cover at 3am. And I'll bet you don't get stopped, even if you're wearing a white hood.
Geez! Liberal Democrats, they're always up to something. They need to put me on a 24 hr advisory retainer to keep them out of trouble.
Sorry for misspelling Walnut Cove, for all you spelling bee participants in here.
DeleteI hardly know where the place is. I do know you should probably just stay out of the place, if you are big time city slicker like Taylor is.
Hee hee...oh geez. There's always something going on with these liberal Democrats.
I'm predicting Biden to pull a huge boner before it's all over with.
Small minded people miss out on so much. While they are busy gorging on chemically created chicken sandwiches, the rest of us are enjoying the diverse pleasures of our region.
ReplyDeleteAround 1830, while you-know-who's ancestors were still swinging from tree to tree in the forest primeval, the Lash family of Bethania, the largest slaveholders in the area, established a plantation along Town Fork Creek. It was named for the coves along the creek and the plentiful walnut trees as Walnut Cove.
With the railroad boom of the 1880s and 1890s, it became a bustling railroad town as trains from points east passed through on their way to Winston, Wilkesboro, Mocksville, Mt. Airy and Roanoke and points west and north. Its Brook Cove suburb once contained the largest tobacco storage facility in the world.
Today Walnut Cove is a pleasant village where some of the best chardonnay grapes in NC are grown. It has an innovative natural sewage system that functions without the use of chemicals and its water supply comes from wells, which makes it a future disaster area for the ignorant Republican frackers down in Raleigh.
As always, stupid is as stupid does.
Rarely do I agree with our forum NW. However, if you've ever had a chicken that was grown with natural ingredients, it tastes much better than one grown utilizing antibiotics and other chemicals.
DeleteWith that said, chicken, of any variety, is an excellent source of protein, and I need that biochemical compound for my streamline and fit body to function properly.
Chardonnay is an excellent wine, and I highly recommend it with seafood, perferably while dining in a street side cafe in Marbella, Sp.